"It's hard to think of a Northwest artist more gifted, mercurial and omnivorously creative than former Cornish College of the Arts instructor Charles Stokes. Or one whose style had a greater influence on his students," writes Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic.
Stokes, 64, died of cancer on April 19 at his home in New York. He had been living in New York since the early 1990s. Born in Tacoma in 1944, Stokes earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Oregon before beginning his career at Cornish, where he taught from 1969 - 1985. Stokes was the first winner of the Seattle Art Museum Betty Bowen award in 1978, an unrestricted cash prize to further the career of a promising local artist.
Stokes is survived by his wife, Irene Dowd, his two sons, Saul Stokes of Oakland, Calif., and Ian Stokes of Los Angeles, two granddaughters and a sister, Sylvia Taylor of Mill Creek.
The early work in Stokes' collection will be given to the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, where donations can be made in his name. There is no public memorial planned.
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